Summer movies

Hangover... a must see because it is SO funny! I went with my neighbor and laughed harder than I had in a long time.

Proposal... this movie was creative and funny, certainly a good chick flick! I loved the Alaska scenery and the message that everything will work out. I left the theater feeling very uplifted.

Up... I saw this movie with my Dad on Father's Day. The movie had amazing animation and had a good message, too.

I am going to see My Sister's Keeper today. I really liked the book; however, I heard the movie has a different message/ ending. We shall see...

Can you tell movies are $4 in Maine and it has been raining? I never see this many movies in the theater in an entire year!

Another great Maine day

Thanks for all your comments on my gift card post. I cannot believe that Mr. Fix-it would expect me to return the gifts. I am happy others concur with this opinion. However, like many things, it was a product of his upbringing. His parents ingrained those types of values in him fairly deeply, which made things difficult to have a serious relationship.

So, here I sit at a lovely little cafe in Maine relaxing and catching up on e-mails/ life. My brother, sister, and some friends were in town for a few days without parents. We had great days of sitting by the lake, swimming, and kayaking. At night, we cooked big communal dinners, drank wine, and enjoyed time together as it is so rare with me living in PA, sister in San Francisco, and brother in NY.

Gift card etiquette... two opposite stories...

Last month, I celebrated my 27th birthday. I was dating Mr. Fix-it and his sister and parents both gave me $20 gift cards. I wrote nice thank you notes and then Mr. Fix-it and I broke up about a week later because we were just too different and the relationship was going nowhere. I saw Mr. Fix-it the other day and he was surprised I did not return the gift cards. Should I have returned the gift cards?

My friends moved up to Maine and I offered to put the stuff that did not fit in the moving truck into my car. I saw them on Friday and we had a lovely day together. They got their stuff and fed me an amazing lunch and dinner. I returned to my parent's house in Maine and saw $50 LL Bean gift card in my e-mail box. This gesture is overly generous. I am going to send a thank you note, but should I also do something like donate money to the new school they are at in their name or should I just appreciate the gesture and order some cool, preppy gear from LL Bean in the fall?

Thanks for your feedback!

Philadelphia bachelorette party?

Ironically, I could plan a party in NYC a whole lot better than in Philadelphia, even though Phila is much closer to me. Does anyone have any suggestions? We want to do dinner/ dancing, not too expensive or crazy, and very fun for a group of girls.

Thanks for the feedback!

Mrs. Monogram

Do you have bridal showers to go to this summer? Mrs. Monogram was a great help to me... I ordered lovely waterproof cosmetic cases for some lovely brides to be for $18 each with their full names monogrammed on the bags. They have so many colors and font choices.

Check it out: http://www.mrsmonogram.com

I did go to the SALE!

I wandered to King of Prussia to check out the Lilly Sale. I was in a much more frugal mode than last year and only walked out with these two things:


The things in my size were either too plain or too much like what I already have. Cheers to saving money!

However, my friend bought me this for my birthday on Sunday:

Yeah for having one more Lilly item in my closet.

Vineyard Vines... for cheap prices!

http://www.sierratradingpost.com has the following great Vineyard Vines deals:

$17.95 belts

$66 dress

$30 swim trunks- for Father's Day for LPP Dad!

I did not die...

Why have I not posted for so long?

School
Boarding school is always crazy and the end of the year the pace goes to frantic with parties, graduations, getting kids out of the dorm, giving exams, correcting exams, writing 7-10 sentences on each kid I teach/ live with, ceremonies, and faculty meetings. Today was my annual "crash day" doing almost nothing all day. It was glorious, but I feel bad I was so unproductive at the same time.

Thesis
Minor detail... on June 1st my thesis proposal was due which meant I had to have all the research done and in a certain format to present to my graduate school. Of course, my advisor is nowhere to be found via e-mail or phone to approve said proposal. Grr... I guess this gives me a reason to take a little break for now.

Love Life
Here is my list for my "ideal man":

- college degree
- professional job
- does not live with his parents
- enjoys working out/ eating healthy

I am trying to stretch my comfort zone and decided the next opportunity I had to go out with a guy who did not meet my "list" I would try it. Well, that boy is Mr. Fix-it who I have been seeing 5-6 times a week for two months! He is an electrician and does not have an intense passion for exercise like I do. However, we both love the outdoors, cooking, walking, and spending time with friends. I am trying to get him to start lifting/running. It is going to be an interesting project. On top of this all, he lives in my town. So, advice for you singletons... if you think you would never be happy with a guy that drives around a pick-up truck and still lives with his parents... try it! I like Mr. Fix-it, he may not be the man I want to marry, but he is teaching me more about life and love than I have ever experienced with other guys. He is taking me away for my birthday weekend on Friday- yeah!

Introducing Mr. Fix-it

I would like to introduce a new member of the "cast of characters" in my blog... Mr. Fix-it. We have officially been dating for a month. Unlike Consultant Boy, who lived an hour away, Mr. Fix-it lives less than a mile away... so this explains the lack of posts the last few weeks. Stay tuned for more info... he is knocking at the door to take me out tonight!

So, I may be blowing my clothing budget at LL Bean this spring...

LL Bean just came out with a new line with a "Contemporary Fit." In other words, their clothes will not be baggy... Here are a few of my favorite items:
Of course, I can't decide between the teal or navy skirt. Did I mention they also come in shorts? Maybe teal skirt and navy shorts? There are other new and exciting things at LL Bean, but I will save those for another post!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping!

My dress in our color, pool. Hate the thing that hangs in the middle... drags on the ground.

I had a NYC bridesmaid dress shopping weekend with some of my girlfriends on Friday/ Saturday. The bride is a people pleaser and with girls in the four corners of the US- DC, Cali, and NY- she chose to get the dresses at David's Bridal.

Pros: lots of colors, styles, around the country, relatively cheap

Cons: TERRIBLE customer service, little selection in stores, not the greatest fit- especially for short women, saleswomen CLEARLY work on commission- told me every dress looked amazing and practically held us hostage before we placed orders

Of course, all the other bridesmaids are size 2-4, small framed, and TALL. So, we got a dress that flatters them. It is not the worst thing in the world, probably won't wear it again. It was a fun weekend of shopping with the girls, however.

I took the train to meet my parents for lunch to celebrate Easter. All in all a successful trip!

3 small world moments:

- In a bar on the UES, we see 4 girls from college we have not seen since I have graduated.
- My college friend is applying to business school, she has been talking to this great guy for advice on which one to choose who she picked randomly from the MBA program's website. He is one of my dearest friends from boarding school, who I saw this Saturday for breakfast.
- I plop down on a train seat to CT and across the aisle is a girl I worked with at my first summer job!

Que pequena mundo es!

iNEEDed one of these!

No boyfriend= no shoulder rubs when I am feeling tense. I decided to solve this problem electronically! I had been looking at one of these for awhile. I got it last week and the verdict is: I love it! It has very HARD pressure. I lay on it before I go to bed and it kneads out the tense knots around my shoulder blades. Does anyone else have those knots? What do you do for them? As for me, the iNEED takes care of some of the tension!

Details: Brookstone $59 (what I usually pay for a massage with tip). They also have a deal that you get a $20 gift certificate for every purchase you make from the store.

Happy Easter

Have a wonderfully pink and green Easter! It was too cold for Lilly here today, but it will be warm soon, I hope!

Quick Check-in

Thank you all for your uplifting comments on Friday night! I had a rough Saturday--ruminating about why I wasted the last seven months of my life and what I was going to do next. I could not eat anything. I went to the gym and ended up having to leave because I started crying. Sunday, fortunately, was much better. I got my appetite back and was able to be productive. It was back to the grind on Monday. One of the great things about my job is that I do not have to much time to think during the week because it is SO busy! First lacrosse game tomorrow... hooray!

Medicine for a broken heart?

So, it happened... A text message this afternoon from Consultant Boy... "I did some thinking this week and we need to talk. Later this afternoon maybe?" He has been amping me up for this weekend... last weekend we talked, said how excited he was to see me... after all, it has been SIX weeks!

He called at about 5... he never felt a "spark" with me and we need to stop dating... why could he have not told me this A MONTH ago and saved my pain and suffering for so long??? So, I have nothing to do this weekend because I had planned it around HIM- ugh!

I am really hurt by this, but glad that I had the experience... back to finding the needle in the haystack :-/.